Tennessee football heads to the state capital this weekend for its regular season finale against Vanderbilt at FirstBank Stadium. The stakes have rarely been higher in this rivalry with Tennessee needing a win to punch its ticket to the CFP and Vanderbilt looking to cap off a strong regular season by spoiling the Vols’ fun.
Each week, Rocky Top Insider will take you behind the scenes with a question and answer with a media member who covers Tennessee’s opponent.
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Vanderbilt is 7-1 against the spread as underdogs this season including covering by a wide margin in a number of those games. Is there a trend you’ve noticed with that? Has Vegas been slow to adjust to Vanderbilt’s improvement?
“There’s a simple explanation for that, Vanderbilt has embraced the underdog role. Their guys have a unique edge and chip about them that isn’t just talk. They know that nobody thought they’d be good, but they’ve always believed and it’s paid off for them. I think the ball control offense has also helped with that. There’s very rarely a ton of separation in Vanderbilt’s games as a result of the long drives it puts together and the way it limits possessions.”
What makes Diego Pavia effective? It seems like he’s a perfect fit in this offense. Do you think that’s accurate?
“It all goes back to the personality. He’s a good thrower and a good runner, but his energy is special. It’s also spread to the rest of the team. He is a perfect fit in the offense. It feels like he always makes the right read. He also doesn’t get enough credit for how accurate he’s been over the course of the season. It feels like you can count the number of times that he’s missed on your hand. He also has tremendous improv ability. He’s a magician.”
Why has production dipped for the offense over the last few weeks?
“It seems like it’s been figured out a bit. They run such a unique offense that nobody had much tape on throughout the first few weeks. Now teams are crashing out on the meshes and are trying to make Vanderbilt win by throwing it down the field, which isn’t its game. Eli Stowers has been taken out of the game often recently and it’s also worth noting how banged up Diego Pavia as well as Sedrick Alexander are. The offense is predicated on the run game with those two leading it and they’ve just been so ineffective running it recently. Teams aren’t getting out-schemed by Vanderbilt like they were so now it has to play body on body and it’s production has dropped as a result.”
What are the strengths and weaknesses of Vanderbilt’s defense?
“I think they’ve got really good depth and a few solid playmakers in Randon Fontenette, CJ Taylor, Langston Patterson and Khordae Sydnor. That’s a group that’s always around the ball. Vanderbilt seems really sound schematically and never seems to have breaks in coverages like previous Vanderbilt teams did. That’s why they’ve been so productive. In the big games they’ve also forced turnovers and they’ve scored off of them. Where they’ve fallen short is their tackling, which has been a real issue recently. They also don’t have a game wrecker on the defensive line, which has put their corners out to dry too often. Think their corners are their biggest weakness. They’ve had to start Jaylin Lackey, a freshman there recently.”
What are some keys for Vanderbilt to pull the upset?
“It’s the same blueprint every week for Vanderbilt. It has to control the ball, generate long drives, avoid the turnover, force some turnovers and make the timely plays. Vanderbilt will be ready to play, but I just wonder if it has enough gas left. It’s banged up and has really sputtered lately relative to what we saw early in the season.”
Score Prediction?
Tennessee 28, Vanderbilt 20
